Hairpin



Sept. 11, 1962 S. PAYNE HAIRPIN Filed Dec. 5, 1960 INVENTOR.

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3,053,263 Patented Sept. 11, 1962 This invention relates generally to improvements in hairpins, and more particularly to that type designed for clamping or gripping portions of hair to resist accidental dislodgement of the pin.

Among the objects in view are the ease and efficacy of application and retention and ease of removal.

This invention provides a hairpin of the wavy arm type commonly known as Bobbie pins, but clearly differentiates therefrom in that my pin can 'be easily and expeditiously applied and removed, as the arms thereof are capable of being readily opened or separated and held accordingly, merely by squeezing or applying pressure to finger holding portions adjacent to G-shaped loop end thereof, and when released, will return to their normal clamping position; consequently the pin can be applied to the hair, at any place desired, without fear of pulling the hair or causing other discomfort.

A further object of the invention is to provide a Bobby Rockomatic hairpin having one or more rockable engaged fulcrum points at one or more intermediate points, the hairpin being formed from a single strand of resilient spring material, is simple in construction, inexpensive to manufacture, and extremely efficient in use, operation and service.

This invention also consists in certain other features of construction and in the combination and arrangement of the several integral parts, to be hereinafter fully described, illustrated in the accompanying drawing wherein like characters of reference designate corresponding parts throughout the several views, and wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a view in side elevation, showing a hairpin embodying the present invention;

FIGURE 2 is a view in side elevation, similar to FIG- URE 1, illustrating the manner of disposing of the hairpin to open position; and

FIGURE 3 is a fragmentary portion of the hairpin of this invention illustrating the fingerhold portion on the upper finger thereof along with the fulcrum means adjacent thereto in depressed position.

Referring to the drawings in detail, it will be noted that my hairpin is formed from a single strip of resilient metal and that reference character 5 designates generally a substantially U-shaped hairpin. The hairpin 5 includes a pair of spaced arms of fingers 6 and 7 connected at one end by an integral, substantially C-shaped loop or tight ortion 8.

While the finger or arm 7 is shown bowed, the outer free end section 9 is free of any extra undulated portions, and has a substantially smooth internal convex upper surface 10 and a substantially smooth external concave lower surface 11; however, arm 7 is formed with a pair of humps 12 adjacent the C-shaped portion 8, said humps being semi-circular in configuration and open at the top thereof.

The second arm 6 is shown with a pair of humps 14, adjacent the C-shaped portion 8, said humps 14 being semi-circular in configuration, open at the bottom and arranged opposed and directly above said pair of humps 12, clearly shown by FIGURE 1. The rear humps 12 and 14 are connected solely by said integral, substantially C- shaped loop, or portion 8. The concave section 15 of said lower concave surface 11 of said lower finger 7 between its mid-section and its said humps 12 provides a lower fingerhold portion, later to be discussed.

The upper finger 6 is formed substantially midway its ends with a curved fulcrum member 18 with two depending fulcrurns, or fulcrum points 19 and 20. The forward portion 21, between the free end 23 of finger 6 and said fulcrum 19 is formed with corrugations forming an undulated hair gripping section, the corrugations normally resting upon the upper convex surface 10 of finger 7 due to the downward force exerted by said bight portion 8. The rearward portion 25 of said finger 6 between said humps 14 and said fulcrum point 20 is formed with a substantially flat fingerhold portion 28 with depending end portions and arranged adjacent said curved fulcrum member 18. Upon applying pressure to the fingerhold portions 15 and 28 it is obvious that the fulcrum point 19 contacting the upper surface 10 will form in effect a fulcrum about which the forward portion 21 of the upper finger will rotate clockwise momentarily until the fulcrum point 26 comes into contact with said upper surface .10, after which time said upper finger 6 will continue to rotate in a clockwise direction, thus causing the fingers 6 and 7 to be spread as shown by FIGURE 2; the fingers of the operator being shown in dotted lines. The fingers 6 and 7 will return to their normal, or hair gripping position, when the pressure is released from said fingerholding portions 15 and 28. The spring like qualities of the hairpin 5 allow the fingerholder portion to become bowed downwardly providing a concave upper surface to fit the shape of the finger of the user when pressure is applied thereto.

It is believed that the many advantages of a hairpin constructed in accordance with the present invention will be readily understood and although preferred embodiments of the article are as illustrated and described, it is to be understood that changes in the details of construction may be resorted to which will fall within the scope of the invention as claimed.

What I claim is:

A hairpin comprising a strip of flat metal bent to form a pair of opposite fingers with forward hair gripping portions and a spring type C-shaped integral connecting loop, the first finger of said fingers forming an upper finger and having a pair of V-shaped rockable fulcrum points at an intermediate point, said points forming a forward fulcrum point and a rearward fulcrum point, said first finger further having a corrugated forward hair engaging end portion between its respective forward fulcrum point and its outer extremity, said first finger further having a rear end portion between its respective rearward fulcrum point and said connecting C-shaped loop, said rear end portion of said first finger provided with a substantially fiat fingerhold portion adjacent its said rearward fulcrum point, the second finger of said pair of fingers having a hair engaging portion which is bowed inwardly forming a continuous undeformed inner smooth convex surface and a continuous exterior concave surface thereon, the rear portion of said exterior smooth concave surface forming a second fingerhold portion, the corrugations of said corrugated forward end portion of said first finger normally resting in contact with the inner smooth convex surface of the forward end portion of said second finger and intermediate between its ends, said first and second fingers each provided with a plurality of opposed humps of semi-circular configuration adjacent said connecting loop to facilitate the gripping thereof, said connecting C- shaped loop forming a spring to hold the forward end portion of said fingers resiliently in contact with each other and the finger holding portions spaced apart from each other, and the said fingerhold portions adapted to e grasped upon the opposite sides thereof to compress the spring type connecting C-shaped loop to exert a rock ing action momentarily on first the forward fulcrum point and finally on said second fulcrum point, upon the inner References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Rothe Apr. 13, 1948 Rothe Feb. 27, 1951 

